Connection Problems When Using Zoom

If you are experiencing dropped calls or application freezes when using Zoom, try the following tips.

Update Your Version of Zoom (if using your own computer)

1. Open the Zoom application on your computer.
2. If necessary, sign into your account.
3. Click on your profile picture in the upper-right corner on the Zoom window.
4. Choose Check for Updates from the pop-up menu.

5. Run any updates.
6. Restart the Zoom application.

Turn Off HD Video

High definition video requires more resources to process than standard definition video. Turning off HD video can improve Zoom stability on a slower connection.

1. Open the Zoom application.
2. Click the Settings icon.

3. -OR- you can also access the Video Settings from within a Zoom session by clicking the pop-up arrow next to the Video button.

4. Under the Video settings, uncheck the HD box under the Camera section.

Use Your Best Network Connection

• In general, a wired connection will be better than a wireless connection.
• WiFi to a home internet connection is usually better than a cellular connection, but not always.
• Check your location for wireless dead spots: it’s possible to have areas where house construction or other barriers will block WiFi signals while nearby areas have much stronger signals.
• If possible, adjust your WiFi antenna or the antennas of your WiFi access point to try and maximize signal.
• If your home internet connection is simply unable to sustain a decent Zoom connection despite all the steps in this document contact GTech or the Help Desk for options.

Stop Any Other Applications Using Internet Bandwidth

• Streaming video/music like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, etc.
• Cloud backups such as Google Drive, One Drive or Dropbox
• Background downloads of large files like games (Steam, GOG, etc.)
• Social applications like Facebook, Discord, etc.
• If you have family members using applications like these, ask them to pause them during your class times.

Close Other Applications That Might Be Using CPU or Memory

Check running applications for ones that might use large amounts of CPU or memory.

• Games
• Video or photo editors
• Data manipulation or mathematical programs like SPSS or Mathematica

Mute Your Microphone When Not Speaking

The amount of bandwidth saved by muting your microphone is small but upload speeds on most internet connections are much slower than download. Thus, stopping audio from uploading may improve performance on very slow connections.

Stop Video

If your faculty member lets you turn off video during a class do so.  If they have requested that you keep your video on, explain your situation and ask for an exception.

Turn Off Hardware Acceleration

Hardware acceleration allows a computer to pass processing activities from the computer’s main CPU to the processor on the graphics card (GPU). Splitting the processing duties in this way can speed up certain activities, such as streaming video or playing games. In some cases, however, hardware acceleration can cause application issues, particularly if the computer’s graphics card tends to overheat or if the software that manages the hardware acceleration does not work well with the computer’s CPU. Thus, if you are experiencing crashing or freezing within the Zoom application, try disabling video acceleration.

1. Open the Zoom application.
2. Click the Settings icon.
3. Under the Video options, click the Advanced button.

4. Uncheck all options under the Use hardware acceleration for section.

5. Close the Settings window.